BICOM

A senior Israel Navy commander, Cmdr. Eli Soholitski of Navy Squadron 916, told Yaakov Lappin of the Jerusalem Post today that Hamas is trying to rearm by sea.

Noting that many of the smuggling tunnels from Egypt into Gaza have been closed, Cmdr. Soholitski commented that, “We continue to see attempts to smuggle weapons or material to build them. The sea is a very convenient platform for smuggling. The terrorists still have one big smuggling tunnel, and it’s called the Mediterranean.”

Commander Soholitski said that Hamas test-fires rockets into the sea every few days as part of its rocket-development programme. One such believed test-fire yesterday triggered Israel’s Code Red rocket-detection system, sending residents of southern Israel back into bomb shelters.

“They are doing experiments and checking their rockets. This is a part of their domestic weapons production. We did not doubt, at the end of the war, that their focus would be on building more weapons. We monitor every such launch, noting the quality of the rocket and its range,” Cmdr. Soholitski said.

The message was echoed by “Lt-Col M”, the head of the Palestinian desk at Military Intelligence’s Research Department, in an interview with the Times of Israel who also believes that Hamas is not ready to hand over control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority.

“Hamas will not relinquish its military capabilities or its military wing,” he told Avi Issacharoff. “The demand that it subordinate its military wing to the PA is unrealizable. For now, the talk of ‘one weapon,’ or ‘one authority’ is just talk.”